Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
Hey, from the same county. Thanks. In the old days (late 80s-mid 90s) before powered monitors became the norm you'd typically run output from the board into an amp and then to the monitors.
Speaking of which, I liked a Bryston I sometimes was able to use, so I recently bought a spotted a used Bryston 2B-LP amp and bought it for home use. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm hopeful and am thinking it may work well with Ascends.
Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
I need to do a bit more research on the whole signal path. Would love to be able to use my MBox Pro as simply another output device and give the S2's a whirl in some mixing work. Dave says there are a number of studios that use them.
Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
Hi. Five months after my introduction, I thought I'd give an update. I was very tempted by the Sierra-2s, but given some life curveballs I've been quite careful with spending. With the Sierra-1 B-Stock sale, however, I decided to give them a try. They arrived yesterday, and I've been playing a lot of music through them for the last 24 hours or so. A few examples include:
Thelonious Monk, Monk's Music
Son House, Original Delta Blues
Herbie Hancock, The Piano
Brad Mehldau Trio, Blues and Ballads
Maria Schneider Orchestra, The Thompson Fields
Kenny Barron and Dave Holland, The Art of Conversation
Imelda May, Mayhem
Clutch, Psychic Warfare
They Might Be Giants, John Henry
Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Pierre Boulez/Cleveland Orchestra, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
After some experiments with placement and different sources, they've handled everything extremely well. I have also discovered that the sound degradation when streaming audio from my phone via Bluetooth is much more noticeable with the Sierra-1s (compared to PSBs and Paradigms I've had for about 15 and 20 years, respectively), and that many LPs really do have a special sound.
I'm very impressed with the Sierra-1s. The only downside thus far is feeling a need to upgrade some other components, and since I anticipate using my turntable more often, getting a more upscale cartridge (current is an AT110e).
Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
That is one downside to such good speakers, and something I noticed when auditioning the full line when I bought. "First world" problem for sure.
Thought the S2's would be all I'd need to make me happy, but a new integrated amp, turntable / cartridge, DAC and Phono Stage later ...
I'm finding source material to be very important, and have been upgrading my digital library with HD Tracks.
Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
I stream Tidal HiFi from my iPhone via a digital dock through my Marantz AVR's dac and it sounds excellent. The iPhone is connected to the dock with the standard apple cord. The dock extracts the raw digital bitstream BEFORE it passes thru the iPhone's crappy internal dac sending it to whatever dac you would use to handle the conversion, in this case the Marantz dac. The dock has coaxial & optical Toslink connections. I use the Toslink.
Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
Jaybeez- I had a response, but it seems to have vanished. In any case, I can relate. I haven't gotten any of the HD tracks outside of the samples. Most of my digital files are lossless or AACs from my CDs and LPs. I have bought some (usually higher resolution) files from services like Bandcamp and some artists and labels.
Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
Mag_Neato - Thanks. I need to look more into streaming and file options. My preamp was made around 1981, but I do have an Outlaw bluetooth receiver connected. With the S1s, however, streaming from my iPhone 5 to it is showing its limitations.
Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
Hi Davidwb, I know it's been awhile since you posted this so I hope you have a chance to see this. i live in Powell and am considering the purchase of the RAAL Towers. I was hoping to hear a pair before buying. Any interest in hosting an audition? I would not be offended if you say no as some folks really value their privacy. I'd also be interested in the electronics you use and your general impressions with the performance of the Towers.
Re: Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DWG
Hi Davidwb, I know it's been awhile since you posted this so I hope you have a chance to see this. i live in Powell and am considering the purchase of the RAAL Towers. I was hoping to hear a pair before buying. Any interest in hosting an audition? I would not be offended if you say no as some folks really value their privacy. I'd also be interested in the electronics you use and your general impressions with the performance of the Towers.
I live in Zanesville and your welcome to come on over and have a listen ... I have a pair of Raal Tower's, Raal Horizon and Sierra 2's in the rears ....
Power is a 7500 (200 w) 5 channel amp and Marantz 8801 with an 203 Oppo ... Also have an old B&O Beogram turntable and 2 PSA V1800 inch subs ... ...